Cause & Effect
by Zeng Li
Summary: Three cascading points of view about an event that occurred due to an unlikely mistake by a fellow Turk. Note: Rodney is a Turk from Before Crisis


_Cause & Effect  
By: Zeng Li_

_Reno…_

Even the best motorcycle drivers in the world just sometimes can't avoid an accident. Neither can the best automobile drivers.

So where did that leave me?

Either way, I was going to hit something…or someone. All I had to do was put all my strength into moving my machine out of the way. I was either going to hit my partner's tumbling body, or his fallen motorcycle which slid across the pavement in a shower of sparks.

Damn.

I knew it was going to hurt.

My back wheel was locked, but I came upon the fallen bike too fast to avoid it. My head was filled with noise. Gravity and friction made the rest of my body feel heavy as the moment that seemed like forever happened. Somehow I remained awake the whole time.

When the world stopped moving, I opened my eyes. The cityscape of Midgar was standing on its side, and in the foreground an up close and personal view of the tarmac. Against the side rail of the highway ramp was a mound of twisted metal that were once high-end Shinra-made motorcycles. From behind that mound, a figure rose up.

It was Rodney.

His clothes were scuffed and torn, blood from multiple locations of road rash darkened areas of his Turk's uniform. He walked with a limp, his shoulders uneven. I was just glad to see him alive.

Satisfied, I could submit to the darkness.

_Rodney…_

That bastard…

Why did he run me off the road?

Not like there was anywhere to go. There's probably nothing more horrifying when riding on two wheels than being pinched between a moving vehicle and the concrete barrier along an elevated portion of highway. It's a long way down.

Things had gone quiet, and somehow I'd found the energy to stand. My hand unconsciously ran through my hair, the sensation telling me my head was still intact. My other shoulder ached in a gut-wrenching way, the pure pain accompanied by a heavy, tight feeling.

I could stand. That's all that mattered.

I stepped around the intertwined bikes and found my partner laying on his side, a few meters away. His eyes were shallow even as they locked onto mine. Then they relaxed, and closed.

I refused to let the paramedics do anything for me until I was sure that they had Reno stabilized. Once the ambulance carrying him drove off, I felt the delayed fatigue set in.

They told me my shoulder was dislocated. I think I listened. They had their way, as my mind became occupied by the lingering thoughts and anger directed at the man responsible for all this. The man who drove off, yet I was expected to report to and face again at some point when life returned to normal.

Was he not aware of what he'd done? Why had he not doubled back and returned to us? He's our commanding officer after all.

I didn't care about my injuries. I more so wanted to talk to that bastard, but as it became obvious that it wasn't happening at the moment, I too gave in to the shock and fatigue my battered body was in.

_Tseng…_

Ten month's worth of work…? Or two men?

Rodney was a pro motorcyclist. He'd be okay.

Reno was agile, but as historically evidenced, unable to withstand too harsh a beating and prone to injury.

Being a Turk, there were really no rules. I completed the assignment on my own, though the effort wasn't as smooth and eloquent as arranged at the meeting table hours before. Either way, it was completed and I could return to base.

I kept my cell phone off. I didn't want to know or hear anything until I arrived.

As predicted, Heidegger was mad. The president wasn't too happy either, but I managed to stand in their presence and listen to all their berating me until it all began to bore me. I wasn't intimidated by either of them. What were they going to do to me anyway? Deep down, they're both afraid of me.

Sometimes I'm even afraid of myself.

The walk was long. Corridors, elevators…all dimly lit in a macabre scene taking me to what felt like my own execution. My toiling mind had no explanation even though I'd been justified at the time.

I squinted in the light as the elevator doors opened to the white walls and fluorescent lighting of the Infirmary. The light of Judgment surrounded me, almost blinding me. Though in reality, it was my own suppressed emotions doing the blinding.

I'd bet that I was more afraid to face them than they were to face me.

Afraid…

Yes, I was afraid. Underneath all the masks of control, composure, and steadfastness that shrouded my inner core, there was an undercurrent I could not deny.

Risking looking like the Grim Reaper as I walked into their room, I continued the façade of fluid motions that they and the world knows me for.

_The End_

_Zeng Li - © 2007. The characters and places used in this story are borrowed from Squaresoft's "Final Fantasy 7" and "FF7: Before Crisis" games, and are used without permission, but with plenty of gratitude._


End file.
